<p>So going through the booklet they just sent us definitely narrowed down my list a bit, but I still have so many classes I’m interested in. Basically, I have no idea what I want to major in (either polisci, econ, or middle eastern studies) and I have very little background in these subjects so I want to get a sense of what I’d actually like to immerse myself in for the next four years.</p>
<p>Here’s my list:
*First-Year Seminar/First-Year English (I haven’t decided which yet, but probably seminar)
*Calculus II (will come in handy for both polisci and econ, plus i like math and don’t want to take a semester off because I know I’ll forget everything)
*Intermediate French (I doubt I got a 6 on the IB exam)
*Elementary Arabic I (I REALLY want to take this but I don’t know when to start the sequence…thoughts?)
*Intro to Micro-/Macroeconomics (I’ve never taken an economics class, but I love math)
*Dynamics of American Politics
*Comparative Politics
*Intro to Islamic Civilization</p>
<p>Considering this, my questions are:
How many classes are too many to take? Would taking five be overwhelming?
Does anyone have any suggestions for First-Year Seminar/English? What did you take?
I know I’m getting ahead of myself (the registration form isn’t posted until June 15) but how does the form work? The booklet mentioned something about giving your choices plus alternatives. So how many courses should I keep on my list?
How does the shopping period work first-semester? Once we arrive on campus for orientation, can we still sign up for more classes? How likely is it that there will still be spaces available then?
Also, if any current students did the IB program, did you take advantage of the 30 credits Barnard gave you? How so?</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help guys! Having nothing to do while I’m waiting for the advising session makes me really anxious (as you can tell).</p>
<p>Last year, my daughter was told that the First Year Dean recommended that entering freshman take only 12 points the first semester -- my d. took 15, including one dance class and 4 academic classes, and she had plenty on her hands -- definitely a tough semester. She took 4 classes in the spring as well (also 14 points) and had a much easier time, apparently because she ended up choosing easier classes.</p>
<p>My d. did make use of the shopping period in the fall, and I think she ended up changing most of her classes from the ones that she had signed up for in June. She didn't have any difficulty at all getting into the classes she wanted. When you get to campus the course registration is all in eBear -- it will show the schedule of courses that you signed up for, but if you want to change you can just add in the ones you want, and delete ones that you don't want any more. Nothing is final until you have adviser approval of the final course load. I don't think there is much difficulty getting classes unless you are trying for ones with limited enrollment.</p>
<p>they say that first years should only take 4 classes first semester...
what if i were to take five classes, two of them being elementary languages classes? would that be manageable? (seeing as one of them were not russian)</p>
<p>also, what if one of those classes were to be russian? should i take less clsses?</p>
<p>If you were starting with Russian I would say that would be pretty hefty schedule. If you have had some Russian before but go into first year Russian- the you might be able to manage it, depending on the other language.</p>
<p>But I would really advise that you avoid overloading yourself your first semester until you get the hang of college work. You don't want to fall behind, and you will be in New York which.... ahem... has a few attractions you might want to take in on weekends. So leave some time for fun.</p>
<p>I echo Calmom's advice about not overloading yourself your first semester. Also, don't stress too much about getting your schedule all lined up and set in stone now. Take advantage of the shopping period those first days and you may find you change it all around. That is what happened to my daughter who loves to plan things way in advance. She is ALMOST used to the fact that her schedule does change during those first couple of weeks...</p>
<p>i second that question about the first-year seminar/english...which one would be best to take in the fall?
I'm considering taking 4 academic classes (adding up to 14pts) plus gym, if i can get in...i'm thinking:
intro to psych
elementary spanish (i've never taken spanish before...and this is the lowest level, so i was wondering if I would be okay with this?)
antropology (the origins of human society)
and i'm thinking of taking the women and culture seminar/english.</p>
<p>I'm thinking of taking that advice...taking the first semester easy, just to ease into things. I'm not worried about graduating with enough credits because i have the APs.</p>
<p>As a premed bio major, I want to get an intro bio class and a chem lab out of the way. But between the bio (a 2000 class -- I place out of 1001 with my AP credit) and General Chem I, that's 10 credits already. Is it a bad idea to take those two, plus the first-year English/seminar and an intermediate Spanish class, in the first semester? The booklet suggests to take each of the lab courses first semester (I don't even think they're offered second semester?), so it seems a little unavoidable. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Ladies, one of the really cool things about Barnard is that they provide you with an adviser! The adviser is a faculty member, often a senior faculty member in department where you have previously expressed interest, who can answer all these questions much better than churchmusicmom and I can. (Unfortunately, our daughters tend to gloss over some of the details, so we have a general impression as to how well they are doing, and we know what their grades are in the end, and we have bee supplied with a few good anecdotes and a few gripes here and there -- like the lecture my daughter took with 300 students where the prof insisted on taking attendance at each class(!) .... but we really don't know whether Bio 2001 at the same time as General Chem is going to overwhelm or whether there are a lot of premeds following the same path). </p>
<p>So please: just sign up for the courses you seem to like the best. I don't think the first year on-line form allows you to sign up for too many. The shopping period is nice, because no matter what the course looks like on paper, you can change your mind very quickly once you've sat through one or two lectures. I mean .. a class that looked fascinating may turn out to have a prof whose meadering lecture style bores you to distraction, even though the prof has rave reviews on culpa; a class that everyone says is impossibly hard may fascinate you so much that you never want to leave; a class that you thought would be easy may turn out to have a prof who sets impossible reading demands. </p>
<p>So ... don't freak out -- it sounds like both panda and mysteryflavored have reasonable plans -- bad1017's list of 8 courses is obviously going to have to be narrowed down. </p>
<p>There is bad news: as much as you want to, it is not possible to take everything that looks good at Barnard/Columbia in 4 years. I don't think it would be possible to take everything that looks good or interesting at Barnard/Columbia if you stick around for 20 years .... there is a lot to choose from. Once you are in college, you will be surrounded by people with much better info -- talking with other students will let you know which are the not-to-be-missed profs and classes. You'll have a great 4 years and probably feel kind of sad when it is all over and time to graduate and move on.</p>
<p>This is meandering a little from the original topic, but is this registration form just for entering freshmen, or is there one for transfers too?</p>